I have a double barrel percussion 10 bore rifle that shoots a belted ball, anyone familiar with this type of ball? and if so what are your loads? I have the mould and have fired the rifle but it had a nasty habbit of dropping the left hammer when the right barrel went off . Long story short it is back from the shop and tight as a drum. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance and God bless.


cordell

keep velocities low.. wow, what a big gun.. make sure the ball is big enough to fit grooves.. make or get a ball puller.. when, not if, you get one in without powder the gun could be ruined by rust waiting for the puller. you probably cant take the breach plug out as with most doubles. put some tin in the lead if it will let you and you can get the ball down to stop any leading. ;ure lead may work fine, depends on belt width, twist, rifling depth etc.. put a fiber wad behind ball and over powder to seal the pressure up.. the key to all black powder shooting is to get consistent velocites by getting consistne pressures by controling fouling and ball pressure on powder... put the same amount of wiping liquid on patch and slide it down on a brush to pull out most of residue. flip and repeat.. then use patch on jag that is very tight and gets to the bottom of the grooves and work it up and down the bore, making sure the muzzel is imaculate flip wet one and do it again, and then use dry patch.. . this is done with so many tipups of wipe on patch, same each step, and not a lot of times but with tigh patch on jag.. once all of these things are started in the bore they should not be too tough to run down an up in the case of the patches.. im gessing accuracy will be in the 60-80 grains 2fg or 1 1/2 swiss. accuraccy is the key, the power is already there.. all of these things is not carved in stone but to be tried one at a time along whith what ever else you have learned.. you will need some kind of lube, try tompson center 1000 lube inthe tube betewwen ball and fiber wad.. or if you need patch on ball put it on that. it must be same amount if on patch on ball.. more powder more fouling, harder to control with slow bullet in barrel time,etc. good luck dave...

Cordell, you are a very lucky chap. IF this is a heavy 10 bore, something along Samuel Baker's lines, it can probably take a pretty stout charge if it is in excellent shape. Get a copy of his "Wild Beasts and Their Ways" for loading suggestions and anecdotes about use.

Hi Dave and Bill,
Thanks for the input, the only two times this rifle has been fired is with 100gns of 2f. I just read my post and it was a little misleading. This is a 10 bore with one bore smooth and one bore belted. It is a William Powell made sometime between 1855 and 1865 acording to the still in business maker. This was however a guess as the records had been destroyed or lost for that time frame. It has 3 leaf express sights and is as tight as the day it was made. The smooth bore shoots a patched 625gn round ball, and the rifled side shoots a patched 500gn belted ball. This rifle weighs in at 12lbs loaded and has very moderate recoil, more of a hard push, however you don't want to hold it up very long . This rifle was purchased out of South Africa and unfortunately as I said earlier I can't get information on who it was originaly shipped to, who knows maybe Baldwin, Selous ????????? . Well anyway I am going to try reducing the load to 80gns and see what it does. If you come up with any additional information please keep me posted. I would still like to hear from anyone else who has a belted ball rifle, or just additional information on loads. Thanks again and God bless.


cordell

Cordell: Sure would love to see some photos of your William Powell. With the loads you mention, recoil should indeed be very pleasant. I have the sneaking suspicion that Ross Seyfried has written about shooting belted-ball guns somewhere -- possibly in Blackpowder Hunting magazine. I'll keep my eye out.

Hi Bill,
If you know how to post pictures I will be glad to take some and forward them to you. I am functionally illiterate when it comes to computers I have read about the belted ball in 12 bore doubles in Safari by Bartle Bull however the 10 bore wasn't mentioned. It seems the belted ball may have been the hot lick at one time, but lost favor as it was hard to load on horseback or while running , I honestly can't picture doing either but again we are not in 1850's Africa . I have Wild Beasts And Their Ways on my list and I will now add Ross Seyfried to my list of authors. Let me know if you know how to post pictures, if not, send me a PM and I will foreward a few to your email address for your enjoyment. Take care and God bless.



cordell

make double sure you dont get any rust in this gun.. black will do that for you in an instant if not properly cared for or on a damp day.so will bp substitutes they will also gather water and rust bores. this gun should probably not see the field.. at the range under controled conditions fine, but not out hunting unless the gun is very rough could cost you a lot of value.. if youve been shooting black for 5-10 years youll know how easy it is to ruin a guns bore.. almost all bores of this vintage are in very poor shape. if yours has a good bore i would clean it with oil, not water, especially not hot water, at the range right after shooting to be safe.. then again at home. an doil it that night and the next day looking for teltale brown patches.. you can put a couple oil patchs down her in the field after fireing to stop rusting if aways to the car.. make sure its well into the grooves.. many nice guns have been ruined by spit patches,, my opinion only.. good luck dave..

balistol is a good bp cleaner.. you can mix it with water but it should be dried to be sure.. use pure balistol to oil bore and parts.... dave

Hi Dave,
Thanks for all the great advise. I am probably going to try Balistol, it sounds like it will be just the ticket for cleaning this baby up. As I said earlier I plan on trying your 80gn load I think it might do the trick also. Now it's just a matter of getting to the range. If I don't here from you sooner, have a great Christmas. Take care and God bless.


cordell